Tesco CC demanding repayment in full

Kevindurant

Anamox said:

I wasn't in this exact situation before but I had a similar level of CC debt that I decided I wanted to chip away more. I managed to get four balance transfer cards with limits of something like £2000 each using MSE's web page on BT cards, I paid something like £100 to move the majority of the debt to those cards and enjoyed 18-24 months of 0% interest. 

It meant that I could continue paying the minimum but it was chipping away more of the debt than when it was sitting on higher interest cards. I just did this for a few years and eventually got the debt amount down to an amount where I could luckily pay it off with a lump sum.

Sadly I cannot get an zero interest cards to live it to , I tried several times over the years ...

Thrugelmir

Kevindurant said:

sleepyjones said:

Kevindurant said:

sleepyjones said:

The minimum payment on £11k that must be around £350 anyway?

No it’s about £190 and I repay £250 a month. I’ve got other debts and we are a single income family.

Cool, I'm not judging you bud ... You've got a much better APR and higher limit than I do
I think it's looking likely that they will put a hold on your card if you don't do something about reducing the balance (which they are 100% entitled to do) so I think you need to be prepared for that, to be honest it might not be such a bad thing to allow them to do it, or to ask them to do that,  so you can freeze the interest and start making a dent on the balance.  You will, of course, lose the use of the card.  
I don't think you'll get a balance transfer at the moment and it probably wouldn't be advisable anyway since it'll effectively just give you more credit and delay the problem.
I would speak to them and tell them you're in financial difficulty, ask them to put a hold on the card and freeze the interest (Initially for 6 months), then offer to repay whatever you can afford (even £150 a month) ... you can ask for a payment plan lower than the minimum monthly payment since the interest will no longer be accruing ... you've got nothing to lose at the moment and you won't be "out of pocket" since your paying that towards the interest anyway.  They could say no, but you can cross that bridge when you get to it and they're more likely to be sympathetic at the moment because of Covid.  Your credit file will take a hit but I think that's the lesser of two evils in this scenario.  
This is what I would do, but I'm no expert.
As mentioned above, the Debt Free Wannabe board is probably where you want to look ... Don't bury your head in the sand and assume this can continue because you know it can't, get on top of it now as best you can and it'll feel like a weight has been lifted and you can get on with your life with one less thing to worry about (I apologise if that sounds patronising, it's not meant to).
Good luck

No, you are spot on, sound advice . I can afford to repay £250 so I’ll figure out how I pay another £50 which will just be a little under what  they are asking. Thanks for taking the time to reply. 

If you've other cards to service. Is this merely stalling the inevitable. When living on the edge only takes one expected financial event to tip one over the edge. While attempting repaying debt in full is admirable. Do seek proper advice. 

A_Lert

Credit card providers are legally obliged to send these letters, and as threads like this show they often come across as quite demanding. I've no doubt they're leading people with multiple debts into making bad decisions.

If you're in persistent debt for three years, Tesco will probably suspend your card so you can't borrow any more money from them, but they cannot force you to pay more than the minimum your existing credit card agreement says. "Persistent debt" in this context means that over half of your payments go to interest and charges not to paying off the balance.

Sncjw

Those who are saying how have they only cleared so little? Have you not seen that they clear some and then they spend on the card again.

I think you need to see why you are spending on the card again. The interest you will be paying will make it not worth it. Get yourself on the debt frees wannabe page and post a statement of affairs 

Inoshe

Kevindurant said:

whitesmith said:

I was simply pointing out that the heading of this thread about Tesco 'demanding' and also what the OP said does not mean that they have to do anything other than continue paying the minimum

they are perfectly free to ignore the letter

This will of course (as you said) have consequences - maybe suspension of the card and certainly higher interest than they would otherwise have paid had they reduced the balance

They certainly do not 'need' to reduce the balance they are perfectly at liberty to continue in exactly the way they are

Thanks very much for advice, Martin says something similar on here once I looked into it. I know i need to repay it but it’s my lowest interest APR so least priority. Now I know they cannot enforce a higher repayment I feel better. I get a decent bonus in March that will clear a good chunk of it. 

If it's your lowest interest APR why are you going to pay it down with your bonus money. Surely you should use that for the highest APR.

Dandytf

In my experience Persistent debt repayment plans are 48 months.

sourcrates

If this were the debt free wannabe board, i would invite you to fill out a statement of affairs, so we have a better idea of your full income and expenditure, then a plan could be formulated.

Unfortunatly, the FCA intervention on persistant debt, although a good move in theory, has somewhat backfired in practice, as its resulted in a lot of panic amongst credit card customers, as to what to do about it, in a practical sence.

So just to help you in your decision making process, you should start from the point of common sense, regardless of how much you owe, or to who.

If the payment is not affordable, then it is not going to be sustainable, and you should therefore look at other stratagies.

You need to balance what you have coming in, and what you need to live on, against whats left to pay towards debts.

Essential debts such as rent/mortgage/council tax/utilities/food etc etc are all essential payments.

Credit cards/loans/or any other form of unsecured credit are all non essential debts, and are paid last, with whatever is left over.

If there is not enough to comfortably meet all your your financial commitments, then you need to do something about it, look at debt management, or dependant on how much debt you have, and your circumstances, another more formal option.

Basically if this is likely to be a problem for you, pop over to the DFW board and post your SOA.

phillw

sourcrates said:

Unfortunatly, the FCA intervention on persistant debt, although a good move in theory, has somewhat backfired in practice, as its resulted in a lot of panic amongst credit card customers, as to what to do about it, in a practical sence.

Rather than backfiring, that would seem to be the intention.
They want to motivate people into either paying more off if they can afford it, or seek to wipe off their debit if they cannot.
It may seem like a nuclear option, but how else would you get people to make a change to their habits?

Dandytf

phillw said:

sourcrates said:

Unfortunatly, the FCA intervention on persistant debt, although a good move in theory, has somewhat backfired in practice, as its resulted in a lot of panic amongst credit card customers, as to what to do about it, in a practical sence.

Rather than backfiring, that would seem to be the intention.
They want to motivate people into either paying more off if they can afford it, or seek to wipe off their debit if they cannot.
It may seem like a nuclear option, but how else would you get people to make a change to their habits?

Some Credit providers could have done a better job explaining options, rather than suggesting ridiculously unaffordable higher re payments before explaining FCA rules.
Though agree that these rules are bringing in much more repaid debt.      

ryan121

Tesco are obligated to help you in this situation. The best thing would be for them to suspend your card, freeze interest and and have everything you pay actually reduce the debt.